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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28734486">Warn Your Warmth to Turn Away</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/direnightshade/pseuds/direnightshade'>direnightshade</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marriage Story (2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Attempted Sexual Assault, Blood and Injury, Dark fic, F/M, Murder, Shower Sex, Smut, Vaginal Sex, Violence, dark!fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:48:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,277</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28734486</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/direnightshade/pseuds/direnightshade</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s in this moment that you realize that things will be alright after all. Like all things before, Charlie will help to see this through.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Charlie Barber/Reader, Charlie Barber/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a combined result of an ask I'd received and a collaborative rp story over on tumblr (direnightshade for those interested).</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rain begins to trickle down from the skies above, dotting the pavement below in tiny, wet splotches. It’s barely a drizzle, just enough to cover your clothes and your face in a fine mist of water; not even enough to thoroughly soak you, not yet, anyway. The street lamps that dot the road combined with the lights of the city illuminate the dark outdoors the moment that you step out of the office building, phone in your hand in preparation to give Charlie a ring, let him know that work was finally wrapped up and you’d be on your way home in no time at all. The keychain that you so often keep held firmly in your other hand provides you with a myriad of options to help keep you safe in times like these when you’re alone in the heart of the city.</p><p>“Hey.” The voice that emanates from beside you startles you out of your thoughts, and when you turn, you find your coworker, Frank, standing beside you.</p><p>Both of you had opted to stay late, put in the extra effort, leaving you both with the weekend free from work while the others chose to take theirs home to work on steadily over the course of the coming days. You smile politely at him, clutching your keychain a little tighter. There’s nothing wrong with Frank, of course, nothing off-putting in the way he’s spoken to you in the past, but call it habit, this need to ensure that your grip is just so on the kubotan. No, there’s nothing inherently wrong with Frank, but there’s a feeling of unease that you just can’t shake tonight.</p><p>“Hi,” you say in return, your breath puffing out in a visible cloud into the cold Autumn night air. “Long night.” Soft laughter follows your obvious statement, a hint of comfortableness in the sound of it. Small talk’s never really been your thing, you’d even go so far as to say you hate it. <em>Awkward and unnecessary</em>, you once told Charlie, <em>just say what you mean and get on with it</em>.</p><p>“Your man coming to pick you up, or you headed to the subway?” His beady little eyes watch you from behind the frames of his glasses, and your head shakes in almost immediate response.</p><p>“No. No, he’s not coming to pick me up. I’m headed that way,” you reply, thumbing over your shoulder towards the direction of the nearest subway station once you slip your phone back into your pocket.</p><p>Frank perks up visibly, and that feeling of unease only seems to grow, gnawing at the back of your mind now. You’ve always prided yourself on your intuition, on your ability to accurately tell more often than not if someone is decent or not. You’d counted Frank as decent for so long, so why now do you feel as if you’ve been wrong this whole time?</p><p>A broad smile grows, exposing his teeth to you just as he shoves his hands in his pockets. “Perfect, that’s where I’m headed too. I’ll walk with you.”</p><p>You’ve never made it your business to know where your coworkers lived, with the exception of one who’d invited you to her home last year for her baby shower, but now that gnawing feeling is growing, chastising you for not knowing Frank’s address, yelling at you from the depths of your mind that isn’t in the direction that you’re headed. Even still, you push the unsettling thoughts from your mind, locking them away to examine at a later date and time. Surely it’s the fact that you’ve been up since six this morning and it’s nearing eleven now. You’re tired, it’s late, and you’re out here, for all intents and purposes, alone. <em>Of course</em> you’re feeling uneasy.</p><p>Puffing out another visible breath, you nod once, signaling that you’ll accept the company, if nothing else, to keep any shady characters away from you on your walk.</p><p>You turn, the soles of your boot scuffing against the concrete sidewalk, stepping into line with Frank while the two of you begin to make your way from the building’s entrance towards the subway station. You’ve barely made it ten paces before Frank’s piped up to break the silence.</p><p>“So,” he starts, elongating the word in such a way that grates on your nerves. Your thumb and forefinger glide up and down the length of the kubotan, focusing on the sensation of the metal weapon, while your keychain still remains held firmly in your palm. “Why <em>hasn’t</em> Charlie come to pick you up?”</p><p>There’s a tone in his voice that doesn’t sit well with you, it’s accusatory, like he’s calling Charlie out for not being there for you so late at night. You huff in indignation, head shaking at its own accord. “Because I’m an adult, I don’t need him to come running every time I work late. Have you ever tried to drive in the city, even at night?”</p><p>He exhales a heavy sigh, and with a quick move, he turns to stand in front of you, effectively halting your steps forward. “I’m sorry,” he says, huffing through his nose just as he reaches for you, putting his hands on your elbows. “It’s just you shouldn’t be out here all alone. If I was Charlie—”</p><p>“Which you aren’t.”</p><p>“—I wouldn’t let you out here on your own, is all.”</p><p>There’s a tug on your arms, and momentarily caught off guard, you stumble forward to collide into Frank. The rain overhead has started to come down harder now, finally permeating the woven material of the cardigan that you wear, soaking into your jeans and beading on the material of your boots. You move to shake him off of you, but the resistance only sees that his hands tighten their grip. Your free hand lifts to slip between you, pressing you palm against his chest.</p><p>“I don’t know what you think is going to happen here,” you start, simultaneously pushing your hand against him to back yourself up away from him, “but whatever it is, I assure you it’s <em>not</em> happening.”</p><p>Frank reaches for you again, and before long it’s a flurry of hands amidst the blur of the rain, stopping only once he’s pressed your back into the brick exterior of the neighboring building. He leans in, his breath hot against the side of your face, cascading down along your neck when he speaks, his words shaky from the exertion of having to fight you back up against the building. “You have no idea how long I’ve been watching you parade yourself around the office, looking like you do. All you fucking do is tease me, bending over the desk, letting me get glimpses down your shirt, little touches of your hand against mine or on my shoulder, just enough to keep me strung along.”</p><p>Your head turns, eyes squeezing shut as a whimper sounds. “Please,” you shudder, hand still gripping your keychain. You don’t <em>want</em> to use it, but you will should he not let up. “You don’t have to do this, Frank, please, just… Just stop.”</p><p>His hands have already begun to wander, his body pressed against yours to keep you pinned in place. It isn’t until his mouth moves to your neck that you use his distraction to your advantage.</p><p>Grasping the kubotan, you swing your arm up high before bringing it back down to pierce his neck with the point, the move earning a surprised gasp from Frank. Immediately, he backs away from you, the kubotan and keychain still dangling from his neck. He stumbles back again before flounders forward, clumsy steps taking him just to the corner of the building until his steps halt and he lurches forward, falling halfway into a dark alleyway that runs parallel to the office buildings. You can hear his gurgling as blood fills his esophagus, and for a moment you think you might actually be sick.</p><p>Shaky hands dig into your pocket to retrieve your phone, the rain pummeling the screen as you pull it out and dial Charlie’s number.</p><p>He answers on the second ring, and his typical cool demeanor takes on an entirely new tone when he hears the rain pelting down through the receiver, the sound mingling with your sniffles and sobs. “Kitten,” he says, his pet name for you spoken like a command, willing you to focus on him and the call.</p><p>“Charlie,” you begin to sob, eyes remaining on Frank’s feet as they stick out from the dark alleyway, the rain washing away the blood that still seeps out from around the kubotan. “Charlie I need help, I—” you hiccup, another sob wracking your body “I’ve done something <em>terrible</em>.”</p><p>Rustling can be heard on the other end of the line before Charlie speaks again. “Stay there, I’m coming. I’ll be there soon, Kitten.”</p><p>The line disconnects, leaving you alone once more with nothing but the sound of the rain and Frank’s dead body nearby. Your clothes, now weighed down by the rain, feel about a hundred pounds, and the combination of the Autumn chill along with the sudden, sickening crash of reality chills you to the bone, your body shuddering at the sensation.</p><p>By the time that Charlie arrives, you’re a sopping, soaked mess, and when he nears, you lift your hand to point in the direction of Frank. His gaze sweeps along to follow in the direction in which you point until he lands on the deceased man. He doesn’t bother asking what happened, he knows that whatever’s unfolded here, it was necessary.</p><p>Charlie’s hands lift to settle against your cheeks, framing your face. “I want you to get in the car, hey,” he says, voice commanding to grab your attention, “look at me.”</p><p>Your shell-shocked gaze lifts to look up into his eyes, the rain now dripping from his features, his hair clinging to his face and showing off his prominent ears. If this were any other moment, you would find the look to be enchanting, but here and now, in the aftermath of what you’ve done, you can’t seem to feel anything at all.</p><p>His thumbs swipe along your cheekbones, vainly wicking away the moisture that’s gathered. “I want you to get in the car and wait for me. I won’t be long. We’ll get this all taken care of.”</p><p>Doing as instructed, you get into the car and slide into the passenger seat, shutting the door once you’re safely tucked away in the warmth of the car. Your body still shivers as the last of the cold leaves your bones. The trunk opens, and the car shifts and sways with the weight of Frank when Charlie dumps him into the space before closing the trunk’s door. A few seconds later, and Charlie joins you in the seat beside your own.</p><p>As the car pulls out of the space, Charlie reaches for your hand, his thumb swiping back and forth across your knuckles in a reassuring gesture. When you look over to him, you find that his face is cast in shadow, only intermittently lit up by the passing street lamps, dashes of light illuminating his face periodically.</p><p>It’s in this moment that you realize that things will be alright after all. Like all things before, Charlie will help to see this through.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p></p>
  <div class="">
    <p>The water that careens downward from the showerhead above splashes against the acrylic tub below, the hot droplets sending a seemingly never ending plume of steam upward to wrap you in its warmth; but even in spite of the heat that fills the small space of the bathroom, you can’t help but shiver involuntarily from the experience of tonight.</p>
  </div>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You can barely register the sounds of shoes slipping off, the heavy soles clomping down against the tiled floor just before a hand reaches out to grasp the edge of the shower curtain, pulling it back to reveal Charlie’s broad and still clothed form. Even still, you cannot bring yourself to look at him; you cannot bring yourself to do much, if anything at all, save for standing in place beneath the hot spray, allowing the water to wash away the sins of the evening in a pinkish swirl that circles the drain.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Charlie steps into the space, crowding you in an instant as his arms reach to wrap around you, drawing your wet form closer to his until you are pressed together. Slowly, the water that had clung so stubbornly to your bare form now soaks into the fabric of Charlie’s clothes, and it isn’t long until he can feel the skin beneath becoming damp with the water that’s permeated his layers. If this were any other situation he would most certainly cringe at the sensation, but here and now, he cannot be bothered to care because you need him, and he’d do anything for you.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It’s alright, Kitten,” he murmurs, the words muffled by the press of his lips against the crown of your head. You nestle in closer, allowing your arms to wrap around his torso just as one of his own tightens around you, the other lifting to cradle the back of your head with a hand. “You did the right thing.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>Have I done the right thing</em>, you wonder silently to yourself.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The sickening sound of the kubotan piercing Frank’s neck replays in your mind following Charlie’s reassurance. The blood that had spurted freely from his artery, covering you in crimson has long since washed away, but the memory of it remains so vividly. Another violent shudder racks your body causing Charlie to press you harder against him in an effort to soothe you.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Vaguely, you are aware of the words now whispered to you from above, the ones that assure you that Charlie is proud of you. They are repeated over and over again; he needs you to believe this, to believe <em>him</em>. Because he <em>is</em> proud of you. He’s spent so long helping to unearth the urges and desires you’d kept hidden in you for most of your life, keeping them from not only your family but even your closest friends as well. It was until he’d come along that you’d begun to express yourself more openly, blossoming like a flower in the hands of the most adept cultivator.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The answer to the question that you have asked yourself, you know, is right in front of you.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>Of course you have</em>.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was no other alternative, after all. Frank had given you no such out. No matter the choices you would have made tonight, they all would have led you here to this very moment.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>When you finally pull away just enough to look up at him, Charlie brings both hands up to frame your face, thumbs wicking away trails of water that have tracked down your cheeks like tears. “What did you do with—”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Almost immediately, Charlie silences you with a gentle hush. “You don’t need to worry about it, Kitten. I took care of it.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>Let me take care of you now</em>, he thinks to himself, silently imploring that you allow him this.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There is not a single shred of doubt in your mind that he hasn’t done as he’s said. You know exactly what he’s capable of, you’ve seen the things he can do. There is not a single detective in the tri-state area who could find even a whiff of a trace of what’s occurred tonight. You and Charlie both know that Frank will be nothing more than another face on a ‘MISSING’ poster plastered on the walls of the subway station and telephone poles, lost to the sands of time.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The fit of the sweater he wears now tightens around his body when your fingers grasp at the soft, now damp material and lean up to press your mouth to his own. His hands fall away from your face only to settle down onto your hips, fingers flexing against supple skin. The kiss is unhurried at first—a gentle thank you for all that he’s done for you tonight, but as these moments shared between you so often do, it quickly picks up in its intensity. Charlie’s hands begin to wander, gripping and kneading the curve of your ass whilst your own hands claw at the fastening of his trousers.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Simultaneously, the two of you turn, your back meeting with the smooth surface of the shower wall just as half of Charlie’s body moves beneath the hot spray. Your lips continue to move in tandem, tongues exploring one another’s mouths as you each inhale the other’s gasps and soft moans.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He’s already well on his way to being hard when you free his cock from his trousers, his hips bucking in automatic response to the touch. You only manage to stroke the length of him once, twice before he bats away your hand, though rather than object, you merely lift both hands to card your fingers through his rapidly dampening hair. One of Charlie’s hands finds its way to your thigh, lifting it up to hitch up over his hip, keeping his hand there whilst the other reaches between your bodies to grasp his cock, rubbing the head through your slick folds.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Your hips tilt away from the wall to offer yourself to him further, a soft gasp escaping you when he begins to push into you. The kiss breaks as your head thunks back against the shower wall and you exhale an elongated moan, the sound melding together with the groan that erupts from deep within Charlie’s chest.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>His hand palms your ass, fingers splaying against the skin as he keeps your hips angled towards him whilst he sets a steady, rapid snap of his hips. The unceasing <em>thump thump thump</em> of your body against the acrylic has long since drowned out the sound of the water that continues to fall from above, and the continual cries for <em>more, harder</em> only serve to spur Charlie on.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He is feral with it, this drive to give you what you need, to ease your troubles and make you forget the horrors of what you’ve endured tonight. If this is what you need, then he will give you everything he has.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Charlie leans in, teeth worrying at the tender skin that covers the column of your throat, marking you just as you like—just as <em>he</em> likes.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>One of your hands drops away from his hair, slipping between your wet bodies to rub fervently against your clit, drawing you closer and closer to the release that had already begun to coil like a tightly wound spring.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And when it snaps, you cry out into the small space, both hands now moving to grip Charlie’s arms as tremor after tremor racks your body. Your cunt grips him like a vice, eliciting a series of grunts, growls, and guttural groans from him as his hips stutter in response, his rhythm broken whilst he chases his release. When he cums it is with a shout not unlike your own, his movements stilling and his cock seated deep within you.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Warm, heavy breaths torrent across your skin as his face remains pressed against your neck, and slowly, carefully, he slips both arms between your body and the shower wall to hold himself close just as you make a similar move.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It is silent now, save for labored breathing and the water that continues to cascade down from the shower head above, but even the quiet communicates so much.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>I love you</em>, you think to yourself as you nestle your face into the crook of Charlie’s neck.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>I’d do anything for you</em>, he realizes.</p>
</div>
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